Puck drops on Cape Breton High School Hockey League season

SYDNEY — A hat trick of league titles is the goal for the Riverview Redmen as the Cape Breton High School Hockey League begins another season this weekend.

The puck drops on the Cape Breton High School Hockey League season this weekend. The defending league-champion Riverview Redmen will look to win the Highland Region title for a third straight year.

The first-place Redmen repeated as Highland Region champions after defeating the second-place Memorial Marauders in last season’s best-of-three final series. The two teams moved on to the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation championship in Upper Tantallon, but finished winless at 0-3.

Riverview bench boss Darryl MacDonald expects some tough competition in the four-team loop. Riverview and Memorial are joined by the Glace Bay Panthers and Sydney Academy Wildcats.

“It’s usually quite competitive,” he said. “Anybody can beat anybody any given night and we certainly want to come prepared to play game in, game out.”

League play opens on Sunday, with Glace Bay playing host to Sydney Academy at the Bayplex in Glace Bay. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.

The season was originally set to begin tonight, but the Riverview and Memorial contest at the County Recreation Centre in Coxheath was postponed due to the ice not being ready in time. That game will be rescheduled for a later date.

MacDonald welcomes back six, third-year players in his lineup. His team has 10 veteran players back in total, including seven forwards, two defenceman and goaltender Michael O’Rielly. The club also added forward Tristan Nordine, who returns to the Redmen after playing with the Cape Breton Tradesmen last season.

“We certainly feel we’ll be competitive,” he said. “We feel we have great team speed, good size — we certainly like our chances for sure.”

The Redmen will get an early test next week. They hit the road for a tournament hosted by the C.P. Allen Cheetahs in Bedford, Oct. 17-19.